Hungary to provide €200 million aid loan to Chad

Just over a week ago, the exact amount Hungary would provide to Chad in the form of an assigned assistance loan was still uncertain, but the government has now left no room for doubt.

The resolution published in the Hungarian Official Gazette on Tuesday night states that the government will offer an assigned assistance loan of €200 million for water management, agriculture, food and information technology projects to the African country, while adding that the phasing must be done in such a way that it does not jeopardise compliance with the framework on Hungary's stability. The loan is provided by Eximbank.

The Chadian president visited Hungary in early September. Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno travelled to Budapest following the China-Africa summit in Beijing to finalise security cooperation agreements between Chad and Hungary. Following the visit, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó spoke about the cooperation between Chad and Hungary, including the assigned assistance loan programme and security agreements.

As part of the security agreements, around 100 Hungarian soldiers would be sent to Chad to train local security forces. Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky announced on 13 October last year that the government would send 200 Hungarian soldiers to the civil war-torn country to help contain the migration crisis in the Sahel region. Parliament voted in favour of the military mission on 6 November last year, but the government – and the parliamentary vote – decided weeks before the announcement to allocate 817 million forints for the establishment of a humanitarian, training and development centre in Chad.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's son, Gáspár Orbán has also been involved in the preparations for the military mission to Chad as a member of the Defence Minister's cabinet. No decision has yet been made on when exactly the Hungarian soldiers will leave for Chad. Experts are still speculating about what the Hungarian government's goal with the mission to Chad might be. According to information obtained by the investigative portal VSquare, the Hungarian government wants to set up a military intelligence centre in Chad.